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Eyes on Fire and Knuckles Sore

Fletcher Harrington (2001)

ALBUM OF THE YEAR - THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 2001 LOCAL BAND SUBMISSION, By ROBERT KINSLER...This is the kind of well-crafted, intelligent country music album that is a rebuttal of all the deservedly bad things written about so much of modern country. Harrington's work here is the perfect antidote to the manufactured likes of Shania Twain and Faith Hill.

OC Weekly  Nov. 30, 2001 by John Roos

Fletcher Harrington is an enigma of sorts. The singer/songwriter/front man of OC alt.-country/roots rock band Cowboy Buddha has forever been fascinated by the lonesome yet rich landscape of the Old West. His character-driven songs, with such titles as "Trains, Small Towns and Broken Hearts" and "Oklahoma Shotgun Bath," suggest a vivid imagination and pathos. How someone with such a dusty, expansive outlook and a love of the land finds Western-laced songwriting inspiration in increasingly urban OC—where the only drunken gunslingers and dance-hall whores you’ll find come as costumed characters at Knott’s Berry Farm—is intriguing. So what gives? For one thing, the 32-year-old Harrington finds fodder in John Ford flicks and William Faulkner, James Joyce and Kurt Vonnegut novels. He seems to have learned well from these sources, spinning his own yarns with grace and a poetic rhythm into tender love songs, robust anthems and other dark tales of longing, loneliness and regret. Harrington also draws from an array of life experiences. With a father in the military, he moved around a lot while growing up, spending time in such locales as Mississippi, Colorado, Florida, Arizona, Maine and the U.K. In 1994, he settled in the Costa Mesa/Tustin area. To make music that’s honest and natural—that isn’t perfect, but has personality—is why Harrington formed Cowboy Buddha six years ago with songwriter/guitarist Steve Frutos (who has since left and is now a San Jose social worker). The band operates as a low-key venture, playing only a few times per month at local venues. Now, though, following several albums and EPs (including last year’s terrific Cement Pond), Harrington has just self-released an ambitious solo debut, Eyes On Fire & Knuckles Sore (available through www.lopie.com). He hasn’t abandoned his trademark Wilco-meets-the-Flying Burrito Brothers sound: the rootsy "As If You Had a Choice" and "Some Small Corner" would fit nicely on any Robbie Fulks or Richard Buckner recording. But Harrington—who works part-time as a chef’s assistant—draws from other influences as well. He’s as fond of the Beatles and Burt Bacharach as he is Lou Reed, the Minutemen and Hüsker Dü. He uses his solo outings to explore new musical terrain, including the use of keyboards and the backing vocals of Patti Pannell, lead singer of local rock band Eating Venus. The disc-closing "Coming Apart at the Seams" is an ambitious 11-minute epic that experiments with some Moby-like, ambient textures that Harrington has recently been drawn to. Even though the song never really clicks, the point is that he is willing to risk failure—and how many of today’s musicians can you say that about? Whether Harrington’s style—call it Americana, roots, alt.-country, whatever—will reach beyond a cult audience is open to debate. A year or two ago, it looked doubtful. But now, with the phenomenal success of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, the earthy-sounding yet cinematic Eyes On Fire could emerge as the genre’s next legitimate indie sleeper. If not, at least Harrington can take solace with producing one of the best local releases of the year.

All Music Guide  2002

The leader of Orange County, CA's roots pop alt-country group Cowbioy Buddha steps out as a solo artist on this, his first solo LP, without changing the formula much — which is fine. Perhaps Harrington has too reedy a voice to make it as one of the leading lights of the No Depression scene, but as a songwriter he shows flashes. And his recordings are homespun, not-too-crafty, happy-go-lucky country and country-rock that doesn't slavishly nod to the godfather of Americana, Gram Parsons, as much as others in the field. (Though at his best, on the more saddening ballads like the piano-sighing "Paralyzed," he prospects some of that same bittersweetness as the two "Hot Burrito"s.) That's because Harrington has a much wider swath of influence. Not only is he a fan of classic '60s pop, but also the Minutemen (with whom he shares an instant economy on his recording, though his music is nothing like theirs) and Hüsker Dü, and confounds all boxes one could place him in by doing a totally slowed-down country cover of the Smiths' Louder Than Bombs B-side scorcher "London," during the closing, multi-suite, Neil Young-ish "Coming Apart at the Scenes." Huh! No song is like the last, and the tunes themselves are convincing. So once you grow used to his warble, often singing with Patti Parnell of Eating Venus, fans of this style begin to appreciate a hearty chap.

KINDAMUZIK - Amsterdam, Holland, December 2002, by Maurice Dielemans

This suberb 12-song collection and Harrington's first solo effort, Eyes On Fire & Knuckles Sore, is an elegant do-it-yourself masterpiece that is perfectly constructed from a surprisingly broad and unusual take on psychedelic country music, which inadvertently grows in space, depth and honest beauty with each careful listen. Fletcher Harrington is an adventurous singer-songwriter that comes very close to approximating an experimental and groundbreaking kind of Michael Nesmith-styled Americana in which there are no musical rules and borders. In fact, everything seems to be allowed on Harrington's beautifully titled debut CD Eyes On Fire & Knuckles Sore. This exceptional record is Harrington's quest for a different kind of Nashville, but also a different approach on crafting introspective songs from the great American song book.

Very much like the lost repertoire of Cowboy Buddha, the songs on tunesmith and Cowboy Buddha's front man Harrington's Eyes On Fire & Knuckles Sore are a sublime fusion of reckless garage punk and neo-traditional country, dominated by a mid-'70s cosmic American country meets messy rock chic. Even though Harrington's remarkably Neil Young-like falsetto may scare unaware listeners, most of the tender ballads and the album's strongest moments arrive in a well-crafted form of memorable and dramatic country duets, like the third song 'Paralyzed', which is one of the many lovely duets gratefully supported by backing vocalist Patti Pannell. This way of singing together reminds us of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris on the milestone record Grievous Angel, but Fletcher's approach is less contemporary.

And then there are also the so-called throwaway psycho-country songs with a simple three-chord assault, like the album's nonchalant opener 'As If You Had A Choice' and the weird 'With A Shape Like Yours', a catchy and somewhat ironic song that sounds brilliantly fresh. Other confrontational highlights are 'I'm A God Today' and the final 11-minute anthem 'Coming Apart At The Seams', which is notable for the beautiful and ambient break that turns into another triumphal and stripped-down ballad, with just Harrington on his acoustic guitar.

"Because I'm God a god today and nothing can take that away, even if you wanted, even if you dared", Harrington's often cryptically and surrealistic approach of writing songs suggest that Fletch Harrington is mostly inspired by the old-school Californian singer-songwriter legacy. But Harrington's intimate love for Jackson Browne, Gene Clark, Gram Parsons, Michael 'Papa Nez' Nesmith and pedal steel guitars melts easily with anything else, especially his deep roots in such loose South-western rock 'n' roll outfits as the Minutemen and R.E.M. Not only is Harrington's somewhat obscure Eyes On Fire & Knuckles Sore amongst the finest 21st century alternative country albums, it is also a brilliant redefinition of the cosmic Americana sound.

Produced by several species of small furry animals, Eyes On Fire & Knuckles Sore is an atmospheric Americana album that at the same time explores new territory. Fletcher Harrington is certainly a God on this terrific album.